Taper Madness

Well, I'm not really in the throes of Taper Madness yet, BUT I know I will be in about 10 days.

Why?

Because The Chicago Marathon is merely 3 weeks away. That means 21 days until one of the best days of each year. And what makes it better? My Husband is coming! He didn't attend last year and though I had tons of fun bonding with my Father, I missed my better half. He keeps me grounded, happy and humble. Humble, mostly. ;)

I logged my longest run of the summer/year at 20.23 miles yesterday (who's counting the .23? Oh wait, I am) in 3 hours. It was definitely an awesome run. Started around 45 degrees and I think it actually dropped by the end. When you run that far, you can hit up all parts of town and some of the country too. My dad of course logged 24 miles (show off!!), and 4 hours. So really...I'm more awesome, right?

So now begins the daunting task of resting, less miles and more stretching, good nutrition and mind pumping. I find taper more daunting because your mind/body plays tricks on you. Did that hurt before? What if I'm not good enough? Did I train enough?

I know the answer to that last question. NOPE, I didn't train enough. But what I DID do is make the best of the situation. I listened to my body, took the extra time to ride/cross-train and then got back to the streets when I was ready. THAT, is what I did. I can only trust that I know my body can do this.

Also, I got new shoes last week. Asics Kayanos. Yes, I am spoiled...I had used Brooks Trance series for the last 2 years and they just didn't seem to be wearing well. I'm talking running through to the mid-sole only about 350 miles into the life of my shoes. I hope these Asics do better, they should...they were a pretty penny.

AND, AND I love Bio-Freeze. My knees were mad at me yesterday, might have something to do with the fact that I helped schlep shingles up a ladder yesterday at my BIL's house. Okay, only ONE bundle, but that counts!

*eying the clock* SOMEONE needs to stretch. Ugh.